This is what people would like to reopen first in Ireland — survey

If given the choice, people would most like to open DIY and gardening stores first in Ireland, according to a recent Amarach survey.

Last week, the Government released its Roadmap for Reopening Society and Business, with five phases for lifting COVID-19 restrictions, with some shops, businesses and institutions able to open up before others.

Asked which venues and destinations they would choose if they could only open five, ranked in order of preference, most survey respondents said they would open DIY/gardening stores first (65%), followed by dentists (42%), hairdressers/barbers (40%), offices/other workplaces (33%), and primary/secondary schools (30%).

If given the choice, people would most like to open DIY and gardening stores first in Ireland, according to a recent Amarach survey. Pic: Sasko Lazarov / RollingNews.ie

Pubs were ranked 20th overall on the priority list.

The Amarach survey is based on a representative sample of 1,600 adults on May 1, 2020.

Local sports outdoor facilities were ranked sixth (26%), followed by churches/places of worship (24%) in seventh, restaurants (21%) in eighth, cafes (21%) in ninth and creches (19%) in tenth.

The table shows all the venues/destinations ranked by priority and percentage choosing it as one of their top 5; then ranked by ‘safety’ measured by the second question and the average safety score (higher score means safer/more comfortable from social distancing perspective): Pic: Amarach

The ‘other’ category (6%) includes golf courses, beaches, fertility clinics and many other retailers and services (including plumbers and electricians to come to peoples’ homes for repairs etc).

The 1,600 people were also asked to indicate on a scale of 1 to 7, where 1 is ‘extremely uncomfortable’ and 7 is ‘extremely comfortable’, how safe or comfortable they would feel visiting/shopping/going to that venue or destination they selected in their top five, in terms of social distancing, if they were opened tomorrow.

The survey results indicate that the respondents would feel least comfortable visiting music venues, with an average safety score of 3.09 on a scale of 1 (extremely uncomfortable) to 7 (extremely comfortable), with the highest average safety score given to local sports outdoor facilities, at 5.20, where a higher score means people would feel safer/more comfortable from social distancing perspective, according to Amarach.

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